• In order of most-to-least time consuming, I’ll start off with an exciting announcement: I have a new boyfriend! DISCLAIMER: THIS IS UNRELATED TO THE ABOVE COMMENT ABOUT SIZE. I understand those of you who may be confused about timelines (valid), and to that, I say that I did not expect to fall for anyone while I was here, but Michael and I clicked instantly and have been that way since. I’m really, really happy with him and have not been this purely excited about and captivated by someone in a very long time. 

  • His technical description: Amazon Web Services software engineer, Cornell grad (but I’m still teaching him what is and isn’t upstate), from Miami, chess connoisseur, fine film enjoyer, fun creator, 5’11”, brown hair. 

  • His description as written by me: Michael is incredibly perceptive, spontaneous, thoughtful, hot, and I have a constant smile plastered on my face no matter what we do because he’s so vibrant.

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• Work has gotten better! I’ve had more opportunities for people-facing projects, including leading tours of the Museum for groups, a sixty-person 7th grade field trip (went exactly how you’d think, except one kid did put “Willow” as their highlight on the feedback survey) with more school groups on the docket, and having made myself the office’s Canva Bitch™. I also got to be in a promotional photoshoot!

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• I’ve been, given this city’s horrible thrifting prospects, obsessed with the Georgetown Flea Market on Sundays. This month’s purchases include: a brown fitted leather jacket, long navy skirt with red flowers, tall brown leather boots, rings, sunglasses, and a pale yellow denimish jacket with multicolor paisley. Michael got a navy workman jacket that he looks very lovely in.

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• There is a good chance I die of Hyper Cupcake Consumption before I leave the city. I’m heavily addicted to the carrot cake cupcakes from the Cakeroom – mark my words that I WILL be figuring out a way to get some to California for my 21st birthday in the fall. THEY’RE JUST THE BEST.

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• This month has been very cool in terms of culture and arts opportunities! I got to see an Alvin Ailey dance show and the longest-running play in the U.S., called Shear Madness. I’ve also gotten to party and be social at American U, the Northwestern in Washington student house, in an apartment in NoMa, some classic places in Adams-Morgan (like [redacted]), and [redacted]. I did, however, [redacted]. And yes, I did include [redacted] as part of the arts & culture paragraph. But no, I have no regrets on either accord.

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• I had a lovely Valentine’s Day! Despite being 20 years old [redacted] and having been in three serious relationships, the only person who had gotten me flowers before was Mrs. Fall, my high school English teacher and mentor. Shoutout to Michael for being the second! We went out to dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant and ordered the suggestions from my minutes-earlier Ethiopian Uber driver. Then we dined on festive pink carrot cake cupcakes for dessert :)

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• That same day (but earlier), I did a cool takeover on the SIW Instagram (go follow @stanfordinwashington so we can beat SINY). If you didn’t/won’t watch the highlight, I led a tour, donated blood, ran into friends on the Metro, and photographed my meetings.

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• My classes have been fun! 

  • I’ve been working on a project for “Purposeful Advocacy - Changing Public Policy for Good: A Policy Maker/Advocate's Perspective” in which I am attempting to create an imaginary bill that would mimic the California Collaborative on Holocaust and Genocide Education – which my former coworkers at the JFCS Holocaust Center in SF have worked tirelessly on and I lobbied for funding for at the state capitol – on the federal level, under the acronym USHaGE.

  • For “Inside Modern Campaigns: How Elections are Won and Lost,” my Washington Post-famous professor has lined up some amazing guest speakers (one said her children have seen the president so much that they’re “bored” of him… this town is crazy y’all). When one speaker flaked, my prof just talked about his own life and career and boy, did we get some TEAAAA in that seminar room. Since the class is off-the-record, I sadly must keep it that way too.

  • In “Wellness: Investing in Your Personal Capital,” we took a personality strengths quiz. You may, as I was, be 0% shocked that my top 5 are: Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence, Social Intelligence, Love, Humor, and Curiosity. My bottom 5, also unsurprising, are: perseverance, prudence, self-regulation, and humility in dead last. Cheers!